Femi Ogbonnikan in Abeokuta
A factional governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State, Senator Buruji Kashamu, has urged the party’s National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, to desist from misleading the electorate, as the forthcoming elections are approaching.
Kashamu who was reacting to a letter written by Secondus and the party’s National Secretary, Senator Ibrahim Umaru Tsauri, to INEC, asking the electoral body to recognise Hon. Ladi Adebutu as the party’s governorship candidate, described the purported letter as “a tissue of lies, meant to blackmail INEC” and predicted that the ploy would fail.
Kashamu, who is the senator representing Ogun East at the National Assembly, in a letter dated February 4, 2019, entitled, “Re: Final List of Nominated Candidates in Ogun State,” addressed to the National Chairman and obtained by journalists in Abeokuta, Wednesday, accused Secondus of twisting facts with a view to blackmailing INEC.
According to Kashamu, Secondus’ letter “drips with the usual lies and blackmail that you have always peddled to obfuscate obvious facts and issues that are glaringly in the public domain.”
He added, “Ordinarily, I would not have responded since the Commission is aware of the issues and has the benefit of sound legal advice from senior lawyers and experts. “However, since you are not tired of telling lies, I would also not be tired of telling the truth and exposing your lies to the whole world.”
Reflecting on the genesis of the crisis, Kashamu said, “The indisputable fact is that the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos had on June 24, 2016, delivered a judgment in which it directed the PDP and INEC to deal exclusively with Mr. Adebayo Dayo-led Ogun State PDP Executive.
“This same judgment was reaffirmed by the Hon. Justice M.B. Idris on February 9, 2018.
“These two judgments formed the basis of April 12, 2018 letter written to you by the Commission in which it informed you of its decision to comply with the terms of both judgments.”
However, Kashamu said despite the judgments and INEC’s position, the PDP leadership under Secondus opted to act contrary to the position of the law by supporting an illegal executive in the state.
“If you chose to disobey the law and INEC decided to obey the law, how can you blame me for your misfortune”? Kashamu asked Secondus.
